“I had a huge fear of sharks, and when I did 'Blood Diamond' in 2006, I actually got stuck in a cage with a great white, which was awesome,” the 39-year-old actor said Tuesday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“It was a gigantic great white ... They actually said in 30 years this has never happened, but the tuna kind of got stuck on the top of the cage and the great white leapt out and tried to bite it and went into the cage with me.

“Half of its body was in and out, and I flattened down at the bottom, and it was this far away, and it chomped a few times but I survived it.”

Actors are so dramatic ... it was probably a carp.

At the time, DiCaprio was a guest of a group devoted to protecting sharks, according toPeople.com. He said looking back, he's happy that he didn't almost die just on a lark.

“I don't want to do that anymore,” he said, “but I don't want to discount their work because they're doing great stuff. But it was absolutely terrifying.”

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